New leader announced for Military Times' parent company

May. 12, 2014 - 06:00AM
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Elaine G. Howard will retire as president and chief executive officer of Gannett Government Media Corporation on Dec. 31. Mark A. Flinn, director of sales and business development at InvestmentNews, will join GGMC on May 28 as president. (File)

Elaine G. Howard, president and chief executive officer of Gannett Government Media Corporation, who has been with the company for 28 years, announced Monday she will retire Dec. 31.

Mark A. Flinn, whose extensive experience as a media executive includes management of print, digital and broadcast operations, has been named to succeed her. Flinn, currently director of sales and business development at InvestmentNews, will join GGMC May 28 as he and Howard work together in the transition of leadership.

“Mark has the digital and management experience to have an immediate impact on the growth of Gannett Government Media’s business,” Howard said. “He is the right leader to guide the company as our industry rapidly evolves in how it delivers news and information.”

Gannett Government Media, a subsidiary of Gannett Co. Inc., employs more than 225 people worldwide and specializes in serving the needs of the military, defense and government markets throughout the world.

During her tenure as president and CEO, Howard expanded the company’s core business from a print publishing company to a multifaceted media corporation. Current lines of business include print periodicals, an event and conference business and an online business. In 2008, she launched “This Week in Defense News,” a Sunday-morning television news program. Named after the company’s well-known weekly defense-industry publication of the same name, the TV program has been syndicated, including outside the U.S. through the American Forces Network, which serves more than 1.2 million service members and their families in 175 countries, and through the Pentagon Channel, serving 38 million U.S. households and 4 million outside the United States.

In addition to Defense News, Gannett Government Media’s print publications include Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times, as well as C4ISR & Networks, Federal Times, EDGE magazine and numerous specialty publications. Howard also oversaw the rapid growth of the company’s comprehensive digital operations.

A graduate of Old Dominion University, Howard joined the company in 1986 and previously held several senior management positions, including sales manager, sales director, and vice president and publisher of the company’s business publications division. Named GGMC president and CEO in 1997, she is a three-time winner of Gannett’s President’s Ring Award — a corporate award recognizing superior executive achievement throughout Gannett’s holdings.

Flinn has more than 25 years’ experience as a media-industry executive, in everything from advertising sales to publishing.

“I’m looking forward to joining Gannett Government Media and its tremendous brands serving the military and government,” he said. “We look to continuing the digital transformation that Elaine and her team have begun and to build a strong path to continued growth.”

Prior to joining InvestmentNews, a Crain Communications product targeted at the financial services industry, he was vice president and general manager for Penton Aviation, which serves the commercial and business aviation markets. Before that, he spent nearly seven years with Aviation Week, where he was vice president and publisher of Aviation Week & Space Technology” and “ShowNews,” overseeing a diverse portfolio of print, digital and on-site media products serving the global aerospace and defense industry.

From 2001 to 2003, Flinn was vice president of sales for BusinessWeek and BusinessWeekTV, where he created, managed and sold cross-platform programs. From 1999 to 2000 he was vice president of sales and e-commerce for BusinessWeek Online.

His other experience includes executive positions with Prodigy-Phase 2 Media and earlier sales and advertising leadership positions with BusinessWeek. Flinn earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Hofstra University, with honors in marketing.